Five years after the reemergence of Godzilla, Dr. Genichiro Shiragama (Koji Takahashi) engineers a new lifeform known as Biollante—an abomination created from the cells of a rose, Godzilla, and Dr. Shiragama’s late daughter Erika (Yasuko Sawaguchi). Meanwhile, Godzilla is accidentally freed from his volcanic prison, enabling him to confront Biollante near the Japanese coastline.

The second installment in the Heisei series, Godzilla vs. Biollante combines riveting monster action with a mad scientist theme. This film may, however, evoke criticism for its languid pacing, unfocused narrative, and anticlimactic finale.

Pros

For retaining the dark and haunting tone established in The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Biollante deserves commendation from fans of Toho’s kaiju eigafranchise. The musical soundtrack of Koichi Sugiyama, for example, includes a number of selections from Akira Ifukube’s original Godzilla composition, allowing the king of monsters to maintain a sinister presence while rampaging through Tokyo. Also worth praising is the BioGoji suit, the mammalian eyes of which convey the menace, intelligence, and deliberate malice that one would expect of a monster with anthropomorphic attributes.

Cons

Godzilla vs. Biollante is marred by three extraneous subplots: the introduction of a new Super X model; Biollante’s telepathic bond with a woman named Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka); and a drawn-out rivalry between two organizations, one American and the other Middle Eastern, whose agents attempt to steal the cells of Godzilla—all superfluous additions to an otherwise engaging, well-written monster movie.

Analysis

Similar to the anti-nuclear sentiment of Gojira, Godzilla vs. Biollante’s commentary on the potential dangers of bioengineering—a new concept in the 1980s—serves to mirror the concerns, both practical and ethical, embodied by members of the real-world scientific community.